The elevator doors opened to the 15th floor, and the air immediately felt different. It was the smell of expensive coffee mixed with the scent of fear. This was the floor where the Ice Queen's father had built his empire, and today, it felt like a graveyard.
As we walked toward the heavy oak doors of the boardroom, a woman stepped out from behind a large marble pillar. It was Sarah, the Ice Queen's personal assistant—the one person who had been by her side since the very first day I signed the contract.
"Madam CEO," Sarah whispered, her face pale. "You shouldn't go in there. The Board has already started an informal vote. They've seen the 'audio recording' Catherine's lawyers leaked."
The Ice Queen stopped in her tracks. "What audio, Sarah?"
"It's a recording from the night at the safe house," Sarah said, her voice trembling. "It's a voice that sounds exactly like yours, telling the 'Hidden Husband' that once the merger is over, he'll get his five million naira and he's never to see you again. It makes the whole marriage look like a criminal bribe."
I felt the blood drain from my face. I looked at the Ice Queen. Her jaw was set so tight I thought it might break. She looked at me, a flicker of betrayal in her eyes for just a second before she regained her composure.
"I never said those words, Sarah," the Ice Queen said, her voice like a knife. "That was a deep-fake, or it was edited. But who would have been close enough to record us in that safe house?"
Sarah looked down at her shoes. "I don't know, Madam."
I stepped forward, my eyes narrowing as I looked at Sarah's hands. She was clutching her tablet so hard her knuckles were white. And then I saw it—a small, diamond-encrusted bracelet on her wrist. A bracelet I had seen in one of Aunt Catherine's old catalogs. It was worth more than Sarah's yearly salary.
"That's a beautiful piece of jewelry, Sarah," I said, my voice low and dangerous. "Did you buy that with your bonus, or was it a 'thank you' gift for planting a bug in the safe house?"
Sarah's head snapped up, her eyes wide with terror. "I... I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Enough!" the Ice Queen commanded. She grabbed Sarah's arm, her eyes burning. "I trusted you! I brought you into my father's inner circle!"
"She threatened me!" Sarah suddenly wailed, the truth finally breaking out. "Catherine told me that if I didn't get a recording of the contract talk, she would make sure my family lost everything! She said you were going to lose the company anyway, so it didn't matter!"
The Ice Queen didn't scream. She didn't cry. She simply reached out and took the tablet from Sarah's hands. "It matters to me. And it matters to my husband."
She turned to me, and for the first time, she looked truly exhausted. "They're waiting for us behind those doors. They think they have the smoking gun. If we go in there and Sarah tells them the truth, we win. But if she lies to save herself, we're finished."
I looked at Sarah, then at the woman I had grown to love despite the contract. "She won't lie. Because I'm going to go in there first, and I'm going to show them that a 'nobody from the street' has more honor than any of the billionaires in that room."
I took the Ice Queen's hand. "Let's go show them what happens when you try to break a real family."